Instructor: Dr. Shireen Hamza
Email: [email protected]
Office: Kresge Hall 3217
Office hours: Monday 12:10-2:30 pm
Class Time: 12:30 - 1:50 pm, Tu/Th
Class Location: Harris Hall L05
Add Your Favorite Podcasts Here
The finished podcast will soon be posted here: Curious Catalysts: the History of Science through Objects
This course will provide students with the opportunity to create a podcast on the history of science together. Taking a global approach to the history of science, each student will conduct original research on an object, text, or other source relevant to the theme of the podcast. Students will learn how to record, edit, and produce sound, while we ask: What counts as signal, and what counts as noise? We will take that question to the archive and the editing studio.
This course will be highly collaborative at every stage. While students will contribute independent research, writing, and production, we will collectively workshop everything.
This syllabus will likely change throughout the semester to adapt to our desires and needs for the class. Please refer to this website for our most updated schedule.
Historical research methods, especially those relevant to the global history of science
Comfort with sound recording and editing
Experience with solo and collaborative writing for podcasts/radio
Introductory knowledge of sound studies, thinking about sound as a unique medium
On Tuesdays, we will discuss assigned reading and listening material. On Thursdays, we will have practical demonstrations and workshops to build the skills we need to write, record, edit, and produce episodes. Since we are making a podcast together in this class, most class sessions will include time for us to check in about and work on our episodes. It’s really important to come to class and to promptly find out what you missed if you can’t be there.
All assignments and deadlines can be viewed on the Assignments page. Because our class is focused on your individual research, writing, and production, I have not assigned many class readings. However, I will be adding relevant scholarship on objects in the history of science to a Resource List throughout the semester for your perusal.